Tag Archives: Syiah

You cannot ban a religion or a ‘religious sect’. You can only persecute people because of their beliefs and practices. Often many forget this simple truth. If banning a religious movement may appear to be a simple administrative act, the real consequence is the oppression of families, devotees and often innocent individuals whose only crime is to have a different vision of the world and spirituality. Often these minorities suffer ostracism, prison or even torture in the name of the ‘security’ and ‘unity’ of the majority. Yet it is these acts of discrimination or, in some countries, overt violence, which often bring a country towards conflict and may even open the door to fanaticism. Continue reading →

Recently a piece of news from an otherwise internationally unknown college attracted the attention of social media, news, and created a huge twitter and blog response. The object of such (probably ...See it on Scoop.it, via Exploring Anthropology

In this episode I discuss the lack of progress in the Middle East peace process and the reasons for which, if what Gregory Bateson called schismogenesis is not addressed, there is very few hope that the conflict might be resolved.

This episode discusses one aspect of contemporary war which has been often been overlooked by both academics and journalists: the case of the pharmaceutical industry and its expansion during the Afghan and Iraq wars.